Chinese prison frees local resident's brother-in-la

Friday

Mar 1, 2013 at 2:00 AM

The Port Jervis Common Council meeting on Monday had an unexpected celebratory moment when Celia Ou, a Chinese immigrant now living in Port Jervis, announced that her brother-in-law, Chen Ruichang, had been freed from a Chinese prison, where he had been held without charges.

Jessica Cohen

The Port Jervis Common Council meeting on Monday had an unexpected celebratory moment when Celia Ou, a Chinese immigrant now living in Port Jervis, announced that her brother-in-law, Chen Ruichang, had been freed from a Chinese prison, where he had been held without charges.

A deputy chief of the editor-in-chief's office at Guangdong Province television station, he had last been seen on Nov. 4, as Ou told the Common Council soon after his disappearance.

She said his arrest was likely related to his practice of Falun Gong, a form of meditation, since many practitioners have been persecuted in China.

Ou said Ruichang's son had been repeatedly asking Chinese police to explain the imprisonment. And she said media attention generated by articles in the Gazette about him and Chinese refugees in Port Jervis may have contributed to pressure to release Ruichang. At least one article had been translated into Chinese and printed in the Chinese newspaper Epoch Times.

But what motivates the Chinese government can be difficult to determine.

"It's always difficult to know why people are released," James Zimmerman Jr. said when queried later. Zimmerman is a China specialist at Amnesty International USA, in San Diego. "Of course, we always like to think that letters and news articles do the trick. They certainly help the cause by keeping the prisoner's name in public view."

Ou has meanwhile been gathering signatures for a petition against human organ harvesting in China. She says many people in New York City have also been collecting signatures, accumulating 28,000 to send to the White House.

She said she was impressed by the interest and kindness of Port Jervians as she pursued signatures.

Port Jervis police are acquiring a new weapon, the taser, as proposed by Police Chief Bill Worden and approved by the council. The taser is designed to be less injurious than a gun, but still a useful aid in arrests.

"It will cut down on resisting arrest," said Mayor Russ Potter.

"It's a great deterrent for local people," said Kelly Decker.

Decker announced the retirement of three police officers, including emergency manager Tom Vicchiariello, who was given the MacKechnie Award.

"During an emergency, he would work for days at a time without sleeping," Decker recalled of Vichiariello.

Decker also made efforts to promote Bon Secours Community Hospital after many months of public criticism for hospital administrators as they worked to close the maternity ward.

"Bon Secours has the lowest infection rate of hospitals in the area," said Decker. "That's good for patients' survival. Support your local hospital. They have 620 employees."

But in a nod to people concerned that low-income pregnant women had to ask — and would not be pre-emptively informed — about taxi rides to Middletown available for prenatal care and delivery, Decker told the listening public, "If you need transportation, ask for vouchers."

The council discussed progress on the city sewer main that collapsed Feb. 21 on Jersey Avenue near the entrance of Trico TV, closing the street from Owen Street to Wagner Place.

The city hired a contractor to begin replacing the line, which is about 18 feet down, while the Fire Department set up a bypass line, 3rd Ward Councilman Geri Oney reported.

The fire department then needed a day and a half to decontaminate its truck, Oney said.

Carl Hendrick, 1st Ward councilman, said Pike Plaza owner Ellicott Development Co., after several delays, will send a representative to the March meeting of the city Planning Board to present the company's intentions for the strip mall.

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